Teddy Partridge

No lifting of the Cuba embargo for you, Gustav victims!

John McCain is running almost solely on his personal biography as a veteran of a Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp. You might think he would, at the very least, find it politically expedient to mention veterans' issues or veterans' health or veterans' benefits in his acceptance speech on Thursday night. You would be wrong.

California's dysfunctional politics may be about to spin right off its axis. Sixty-seven days into a budget crisis longer than any other, Governor Schwarzenegger may be facing a recall. Live by the sword...

Not universally adored around these parts, my senator, Barbara Boxer, set a swell example on Friday for others who have seen John McCain fight. Via Bob Geiger (welcome back, Bob!)

It's really no wonder the GOP put a has-been Law&Order actor and a former Democrat onstage Tuesday night. There's hardly any actual GOP officeholders in Saint Paul this week. Their reasons for not showing up are novel, to say the least.

John McCain's choice of Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate continues to amaze. Sunday, I wrote a fairly well-linked post about why his decision showed a lack of judgment. The pick betrayed McCain's discount of experience. It dishonored him and his campaign. It made his campaign slogan "Country First" a lie.

Alaskans are unhappy with Sarah Palin about the Bridge to Nowhere.During her first speech after being named as McCain's surprise pick as running mate, Palin said she had told Congress "'thanks but no thanks' on that bridge to nowhere."In the city of Ketchikan, the planned site of the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere," political leaders of both parties said the claim was false and a betrayal of their community.

Presidential candidates have a single task to perform expertly between securing their party's nomination and Election Day: the choice of a running mate. All else is politicking and speechifying. (And, by the way, wasn't our guy's speech just swell?) Debates and photo-opportunities are fine for Villagers and other rubes who read into them all kinds of sillliness.

Lesbian activist Del Martin, known worldwide for her marriage in San Francisco's City Hall in 2004 to her partner of many years Phyllis Lyon, passed away yesterday in UCSF Hospice.An eloquent organizer for civil rights, civil liberties and human dignity, Del Martin created and helped shape the modern LGBT and feminist movements.

If you're like me (and I know I am) you're having a tough time keeping up with all the prog-bloggers in Denver. Digby had a wonderful report on Hillary's speech last night; she ended with a story I thought worth sharing with FDL. It encapsulates so much of what's wrong with the hierarchy of the Congressional Democratic party.